Street or station indicator.



K B. LEDERMANN.

STREET 0R STATION INQICATOR. APPLlCATlON FILED SEPT. 16. 1914.

Patented N0v.16. 191:,

I 1 \T k I ,NEXTSTOPA25/17/11\T F 12 wane/me a BERNHARD LEDERMANN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

STREET OR STATIl'ON INDICATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

. Application filed September 16. 1914. Serial No. 861.952.

To 11/! Ir/wm it may (pn crn Be it known that l. lhcnxnxnn Lsnnn- .\I.\.\'.\" a citizen of the l'nited States. and a resident of the city of New York. county of Queens and State of New York. have in.- vented a new and useful Improvement in Street or Station indicators, of which the following is a full. clear, and exact descrip tion.

My invention relates to improvements in that class of devices which is used incars to indicate a street or station which is being approached.

A good deal of dilliculty is experienced in large cities on trolley ca-rsand in subways about knowing the exact locality in which one is riding, and in also knowing the name of the street or station at which the next stop is to he. made. Devices intended to indicate the name of the next stop are often complicatedand unreliable, so that such dcvicesare notin general use. a.

The object of myinvention is to produce an apparatus of this kind which-is ex tremely simple. which canbe arranged either 1n the end or center of the car, but preteiu ably across the. center near the root so that it can be seen from either end portion oi the car to provide means for clearly displaying a the name. of the next stop. and also toproduce a simple means of operation which can. be controlled by one ot the-.tr'annnein and which by the simple pressing of a button will cause-the name of the .next station or streetto be displayed. In carrying outthismyentlon .l have aseries ot signs; arranged I one behind tho'other. and preferably in opposed pairs, which can be, hooked to a. sup: porting rod so that when can be easily placed or removed, and-which aresupported in horizontal position by a .inagnet 0011-.

trolled catch so that when the, magnet is energized and the. catch released. the come sponding sign will drop by gravity to asvertical position and display the sign behind it.

Reference is to be had to the-acconipanymg drawings tornnng a partof th sspecifi-y catioinin which similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a front, eleation .of the apparatus embodyingmy invention. Fig. 2 is a broken plan view of the apparatus. Fig. 3 is a detail view of one of the catches which support'a sign, and Fi 4 is a diagrammatic view. showing themagnet circuits and the means for effecting the release of the sign.

The apparatus is provided with a supporting framework 10 which can be of any approved kind. and which as shown is rectangular. this frame being preferably arranged to extend across the *ar' near the center. and thus leaving both sides open to view; A bank of swinging signs ll is arranged. in the upper part of the framework and preterablv in opposed pairs. each sign having at-its outer end a hook l2 which can be readily placed over a cross-rod 13. and the latter can be supported in any convenient manner. Itwill be seen that with this arrangement the signs can be easily placed in position or removed. and that unless supported they will dropby gravity to a vertical position. ()n the upper edge of each sign is a spring member ll terminating in a loop 15 which is adapted to engage the bend or knuckle 16 on an elbow lever 17 supported above .t-he sign. and pivoted at its elbow as shown at 18 to the bracket 19 which is in turn .secured'to a ledge 30 on the Erame 10. or'which can besupported in any convenient manner; A magnet 21 is supportedon the bracket .19 opposite the'vertical leg of the lever-17, so that said leg serves as an armature. Y I

It will be seen that when the sign is swung up to a horizoi-ital position as in Fig. 1. the vertical leg of the lever 17 will enter the loop 15. and the knuckle 16 will engage the upper wallet the loop 15 thus supportingth'e signz'but when the. inagnet is energized and the :v'ertieal leg of the'le'ver 1T pulled toward the'm'agnet, the knuckle will be withdrawn from contact with the wall of the loopv 15 and the sign 11 will drop by gravity thus exposing-the one next behi it. In the drawing I have shown a few of these swinging signs. but in' practic'e they can be made thinand'placed in close relation; and the niagnetscan be. staggered as shown in Fig. 2 to provide for such close relation. 1 P 1 In practice when a'sign is to be exposed. the one. next in front of it "is dropped. and t0'-.})lO\ l(it*' f0] exposinga correspondingly button 22, and a bank of push buttons properly marked can be locatedat any conalso pulleddo wn, they act on the venient place, as for instance at the end or side of the car. Obriously a single na-gnet an be connected with a single push'blittonf but for the reasons stated I; prefer to hare them arranged in pairs, and they can be connected up with anyeonvenient source of electricity.

In Fig. 4 I have shown a simple circuit which includes a' pair of magnets.- The current passes from the source of' supply-A, through'a wire a, tlie'inagnets '21, 'a pushbuttonQQ, and the wire 7), back to the source, In practice We Will say that this pairofm'agnets is locatedas at B and -C in Fig.2. Ob-

viously they can be arranged opposite any two desired signs, and in the instance cited when the push button corresponding to the signs at B and C is pushed, the corresponding magnets will be energized and these two'signs will be dropped, exposing the ones next behind then'r I l It will be seen, therefore, that the apparatus is exceedingly simple and that an advantage not possessed by many such devices is that any desired sign or pair'ot' signs can be dropped, and the operation is not neces sarily sequential. This is important, because some times certain trains" pass certain streets or stations, while others will stop-at them, and so it is necessary to have the apparatus under control in orderithatany desired signs can be dropped .to expose the signs behindthem. Y

Io provide for easily; returning all the signs simultaneously to their horizontal .po-

sitionafter they have been dropped,'a rod 23 is arranged on each side of the frame .10'near the bottom, so that when the signs fall, as inserving as fulcrulns for the rodsorlevenifld.

When the'l'iandle 26 is pulled-down, thep'iyoted inner ends of the rods or levers: 24: are r fulcriin'is -27, 't'lie' outer ends are thrown up,

thus carrying up the rods 23 and signs 11,

and thereby returning the signs toitheir hori- ,Zontalposition avhere they are automatirall y held, because the loops 15 severally engage the corresponding ,knucldes v1G of thearnia; turel'eyers 1T. z. I I

An apparatus of the, hind described comprisingsupporting rods igns arrang "d I l f in banks and hanng lmolis, detarhably en? gaging the rods ,n hen r, the signs can swing. freely ongthe rods 1ne ans t '-.su'ppo rt ing the signs in a horizontal position, and electroinagnetic means for selectivelyreleasing the 2. An :mparatus-of the kilnd de ibed comprising a series of freely sivinging signs arrangedjn banks \vitlronesign behind ,the'

other, each sign harlngaa t itsiliinged detachable connectionjwitli itssnppoi iinlepernlent catch for each Sign l fl lltkltl lt in 1a horizontal position, elect roniagnetic means: for selectively releasingtlie catches and' perlnittingtthe signs to drop by'grayity t6 zr Vertical position, cross rods exte igling transversely oppositethe edges ot'the signs when the latte are n 1 a ,vei't cal p'osrtmn, and lllttlllfi ffil' sivingn g the cross-r als up -ward and thereby i, 'estoring the signs to Er horizontal position. i f

3. Anapparatus of the 'kind described comprising ,a series of vfree] y s\ i nging signs arranged in bankswitlr one sigirbehin'i'l the other, each sign haying at one end a hook detachably engaging a support.,an independ- 'ent catch for ea ch sign, to hold it in 'a hori- ,zontal position, electroniagnetic lneans fo'r selectively releasing the catches and perniitting the signs to drop by gravity to a rangedopposite the edges of the signswhen the latteriare, in a Wert cal position, said retturningineans swinging: ll l tllc same direcve-rtical position, and returning means airtion as the signs and aila| )t ed;to restore the signsr to a horizontal. positidn. w [I i BERNITARDlflflDltltMhNNi-a Witnes'e )nnainxs lion IliLWA RI inns, 

